The Different Joint Custody Arrangements

By
Hopper Law Firm
|October 09, 2012

If you and your ex-spouse have joint custody of the kids, you will have
to figure out how you are going to work out a sharing schedule. If your
child is in school, chances are that one parent will have to have the
child during the week and the other will have custody on the weekend.
If two parents live near each other, then there is the possibility that
the children can move from one house to another midway through the week
without much complication. No matter what you decide to do, the key is
that you write it down. Shared custody can mean that both parents get
equal time with their child, or that one child has primary custody while
the other parents gets to pick up the rest of the time.

The court will help you to organize your joint custody schedule based on
four options. The first option for parents who have equal joint custody
is to do a “week on, week off” arrangement. This means that
one parent has the children for one week and then sends them to the other
parent for a week. This is only feasible if the parents live near each
other. If you choose this custody arrangement, you should make up a room
and stock your child’s room with all the necessary items that he
or she would need. This will be easier than having to pack up your child’s
belongings every other weekend. In an every other week schedule, holidays
are often looked at separately. That way a mother can have her children
on Christmas one year, while the father may have them for Easter in exchange.

You can also arrange a 3-4 split arrangement. This is when one parent has
the child three days in a row and then the other has the child for four
days. This is not an equal arrangement but works better for some parents
who only want their children for the weekend. A 2-2-3 split is another
option for parents that want to have equal time with their kids. In this
arrangement, the child spends two days with one parent, then two with
the other. Then the parent who had the first two days gets the three days
of the weekend with the child. The next week, the order switches, so that
in the end both parents are receiving equal time with their children.

You can also split days in order to make up a joint custody agreement.
This works best when parents work different shifts at work and want to
have the child at different times. For example, if a mother gets the child
during the day, and then works as a nurse at night, she can drop the child
off at his or her father’s house. The father will then care for
the child during the evening and night, drop him or her off at mom’s
in the morning, and do the exact same thing every day. The parents can
also alternate holidays and weekends to keep things fair.

Any
joint custody schedule may call for some flexibility as things happen and there are
times that a schedule may not always work in specific situations. If you
believe that you are not getting the custody time you are entitled to
because your spouse is constantly making excuses or stalling when it comes
to returning your child, then you may want to talk to a family attorney
about the issue.
Contact a family lawyer at Hopper, Hopper & Mulligan, PLLC today if you have more questions about arranging
joint custody and determining which option is best for you.

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